§12-4 Nomination papers; qualifications of signers. (a) No person shall sign the nomination papers of more than one candidate, partisan or nonpartisan, for the same office, unless there is more than one office in a class in which case no person shall sign papers for more than the actual number of offices in a class. Nomination papers shall be construed in this regard according to priority of filing, and the name of any person appearing thereon shall be counted only so long as this provision is not violated, and not thereafter.
(b) Names on nomination papers shall not be counted, unless the signer is a registered voter and is eligible to vote for the candidate. The chief election officer or clerk shall use the most currently compiled general county register available at the time the nomination paper is presented for filing to determine the eligibility of the registered voters to sign for the candidate. Voter registration affidavits that have not been entered into the voter register by the clerk shall not be considered or accepted for this check. At the time of filing, the chief election officer or clerk may reject the candidate's nomination paper for lack of sufficient signers who are eligible to vote for the candidate.
(c) Any registered voter who, after signing a nomination paper, seeks to withdraw the voter's signature shall do so by providing written notice to the chief election officer, or clerk in the case of a county office, any time before the filing of the candidate's nomination paper; provided that the notice is received by the chief election officer, or clerk in the case of a county office, no later than 4:30 p.m. on the fourth business day prior to the close of filing pursuant to section 12-6. The written notice shall include the voter's name, residence address, the month and date portions of the voter's date of birth, the voter's signature, the name of the candidate, and a statement that the voter wishes to remove the voter's signature from the candidate's nomination paper; provided that the written notice shall not require the voter's social security number or any portion thereof and the year portion of the voter's date of birth. Any request by a registered voter to remove the voter's signature from a candidate's nomination paper that is received by the chief election officer, or clerk in the case of a county office, after the candidate's nomination paper has been filed or after 4:30 p.m. on the fourth business day prior to the close of filing shall not be accepted.
(d) Within twenty-four hours upon receipt of a written notice pursuant to subsection (c), the chief election officer, or clerk in the case of a county office, shall send written notice via registered mail to the candidate that the voter requested to have the voter's signature removed from the candidate's nomination paper and that the signature of the voter shall not be counted. [L 1970, c 26, pt of §2; am L 1974, c 34, §2(a); am L 1996, c 173, §5; am L 1997, c 288, §2; am L 2019, c 22, §2]